Two (Money Saving) Tips for Buying Cloth Diapers Online from Amazon

Buying cloth diapers online from Amazon is often a convenient and inexpensive option for those without access to cloth diapers in their community. Below, I have two tips to share with you that will save you money and a ton of aggravation down the line. After reading this post you’ll not only have my top two tips to save time and frustration, but you’ll also have information to help you make informed and purchases from Amazon for any type of product.

Aside: If you want to purchase cloth diapers online but would like to check other websites outside of Amazon, check out the CDfB Cloth Diaper Directory for local and online retailers listed by State (or Province).

Tip Number One: Check Who the Amazon Seller Is

While tip number two further down in this post is a quick and easy money saving hack, my number one tip for shopping for cloth diapers online from Amazon is a little more advanced. Here’s what you need to know:

Buying Cloth Diapers Online from Amazon May Not Really Be Buying from Amazon at All

For those living outside of a large city, buying cloth diapers online is often the best and only choice. Cloth diapers are still not often sold in big-box stores and small cloth diaper shops are non-existent outside of cities. Unfortunately, much like the big-box stores in your neighborhood, Amazon doesn’t carry very many cloth diapers itself.

“Wait, huh? But I see literally thousands of cloth diapers listed for sale on Amazon!” you might be saying.

Yup, we’re both right. In addition to the things Amazon sources and sells, Amazon also lists, and even ships with Prime shipping, products from third-party sellers. Some of these third-party sellers are companies, and some are regular people.

Aside: Though I no longer do so, I have been a third-party seller on Amazon, selling everything from cloth diaper liners and cloth wipes to jigsaw puzzles, all of which were shipped by Amazon to customers through their FBA program. And I was not the manufacturer, or even affiliated with, any of those products; I sourced them all through retail channels.

To see if Amazon is the seller of the diaper, look here:

Sold by Amazon

Sold by a Third-Party Seller (but shipped by Amazon)

Why it Matters if the Seller of the Cloth Diaper is Amazon?

Buying cloth diapers from a third-party seller on Amazon can have two potential problems depending on who the seller is:

In a case like the photo above, where BambooDrive is both the brand of diaper and the seller of the diaper, the price of the same diapers may be cheaper or expensive on Amazon compared to purchasing directly from the company.At the time of publication, you can purchase a package of six BambooDrive diapers on Amazon.ca for about $65 CDN, or you can purchase a similar package of six diapers on their website for the exact same price (on sale from $78.99) CDN but with free shipping. While in this example the price is basically the same (and tip number two below would save you more money through purchasing on Amazon), I regularly see diapers on sale on the company website but not on on Amazon.(Disclaimer: At the time of publication I was not familiar with BambooDrive diapers in any way, and only found them online through the writing of this article. Their website claims that they are a Canadian company, with only some manufacturing in China, so I will be learning more about them in the future).

In a case where the third-party seller is not the diaper manufacturer, you can’t be sure about anything.Sold by a third-party seller that is neither the manufacturer or Amazon

First, the seller can create listings for products on their own. Therefore the product may be listed as a name-brand diaper, but the diaper you are buying is a knockoff. If it is the real-deal, it may have been purchased through retail arbitrage and the price of the product may be much higher than what it’s sold for elsewhere (to help the seller make up the costs for shipping, storage fees with Amazon, etc.).

When the shipping is not handled by Amazon, you may also experience a long delay in receiving the product.In instances where the product arrives too late or it’s not what you expected, while you do always have a certain amount of protection when ordering from Amazon, Amazon asks that you contact the seller directly to cancel an order and receive a refund or to return an order. If you have a dispute, Amazon encourages you to “work with the seller” before they will get involved. As you can imagine, that can be a recipe for headache when dealing with less-than-ethical sellers.

In Short the Number One Tip When Buying Cloth Diapers Online from Amazon is…

I recommend checking carefully who the seller of the diaper is. When Amazon is the seller, you’re getting the real product, at a good price, and with a solid warranty. If the seller is the manufacturer, you can be sure the product is good, but be warned that you may not be getting the best price or shipping cost (if you don’t use Prime). If the third-party seller is not affiliated with the manufacturer, it’s buyer beware; read their reviews very carefully and shop around before making a decision.

Tip Two: Get Money Back when Shopping for Cloth Diapers on Amazon!

Now that you know how to find the best and most reliable cloth diapers on Amazon, it’s time to reward you for reading this far with the best and easiest tip I can give you for shopping on Amazon: EBates!

If you click through to Ebates through the button above, sign up for Ebates and make a $25 purchase at any retailer they list, you’ll get $10 just for using that link. The button is an affiliate link, which means that I will also get a small commission, at no cost to you, if you take advantage of that deal.

Note: If you’re Canadian, and shop on Amazon.ca, there is a Canadian Equivalent:

Ebates (and Ebates.ca) is website that pays you real cash back every time you shop online and it’s free to join! Ebates works with over 750 stores that ship to Canada including of course Amazon, but also Best Buy, eBay, Old Navy, Forever21, Groupon, Target and a ton more.

I have personally made $23.23 on Ebates.ca in a little over a year, and I barely shop online. Unfortunately, I didn’t know about Ebates when I shopped for my cloth diapers, if I had I would have made a bundle.

Ebates is very simple to use. All you need to do is create an account, and when you’re ready to shop, sign in, search for Amazon.ca (or the store you’re shopping at) and click the “Shop Now” button on the Ebates website to take you to that page.

Here’s a quick video to show you how it’s done:

Sign up here to start using Ebates, and then it’s as simple as remembering to go through the site each time you shop online.

Happy Shopping!

I hope both these tips make your experience buying cloth diapers online from Amazon better. If you have any questions or comments please leave a comment below and I’d be happy to help.

Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. These commissions allow me to keep creating content for Cloth Diapers for Beginners.